A forum to discuss Open Gaming - which are free games that are released with a Creative Commons licenses. Post up any Open games you find or find out more about the licenses from our resident Open Gaming expert Sanglorian from FOSsil Bank Wiki.

I'm Chris Sakkas, the admin for the Year of Living Free Wiki, Blog, Twitter and now Forum!

For years now, I've been a fan of the open source movement. This movement creates software, art and writing and then makes it free for others to use, share and adapt.

Some gaming companies and authors have followed the open source movement, most notably Dungeons and Dragons. Ryan Dancey convinced Wizards of the Coast to release a 'System Reference Document' of the 3rd Edition of D&D. This SRD had all game rules needed to design new material for D&D - or to design a new game based on D&D.

This material was covered by an open licence, the Open Game License. To use and adapt the SRD, you didn't need WOTC's permission or blessing. You just had to include a copy of the OGL in your work, make clear which content in your product was Open and cite any sources of OGC.

The OGL caused an unprecedented boom in the RPG industry. Literally thousands of D&D-compatible products were released - some great and many terrible. Even companies with their own brands, like White Wolf, tried their hand at OGL content.

The OGL did not achieve WOTC's aims, and they didn't adopt it when they released Fourth Edition. But by its very nature it (and the content released under it) cannot be retracted and anyone can still use it. That's how Pathfinder can use hundreds of pages of D&D material and still be fully legal.

The OGL is usually only used to license D&D-based games. Many more games - most far removed from D&D in both rules and style - have been released under other licences. Creative Commons is the most popular choice, because it is simply explained on its website and because it offers a range of choices for different needs (for example, you can restrict adaptations of your work from being sold or force people adapting your work to use the same open licence you did).

The great thing about open games is that they are usually free but also earn a lot of money. The best example of this is Dungeons and Dragons itself - you can download the SRD for free, but it has also made millions of dollars. Other examples include the popular indie game Spirit of the Century and Eclipse Phase.

Recently, a special type of open game has arisen. Called the 'retroclone', it duplicates the rules of an old game (game rules are not copyrighted) so others can create supplements for the original game without violating copyright. For example, I want to create an adventure for the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Game. The retroclone Labyrinth Lord is very similar to Basic, so I create an LL adventure that is compatible with the Basic game. Without violating copyright, I add to an old game.